Monday, June 8, 2015

Air travel
for long was considered, the privilege of elites. Aeroplane landing in ‘Ninaithala
Inikkum’ attracted rave reviews ..... in olden days, just as one entered
the flight, nice looking air-hostess would give toffees, cotton for placing in
ears, and hot towel. Then a welcome
drink, followed by eateries ..... in International flights, liquor would be
served. Those who have had a maiden
travel or so in a flight would talk endlessly about the service, the food and
more – people would listen with astonishment ! – life has changed lot, and
there is some talk about ‘standees’ even !!

From pattani and verkadalai [peas & groundnuts] –
you have such varied options in super markets.
Of the many sized, flavoured and delicious ones – this one belonging to
the family of Proteaceae is popular believed to contain health-benefiting
nutrients. They are a rich source of
energy - 100g of nuts provide about 718
calorie, which is one of the highest calorific values among nuts. 100g of it provides
8.6 g or 23% of daily-recommended levels of dietary fiber. Additionally, they
are a very good source of phytosterols such as ß-sitosterol; they carry no cholesterol. It is gluten-free and are rich source of mono-unsaturated fatty (MUF)
like oleic acid (18:1) and palmitoleic acids (16:1). The nuts are also rich in many important
B-complex vitamins that are vital for metabolic functions. 100g of nuts cost around Rs.300 in India.

It is ‘Macadamia, a genus of four species of trees indigenous to
Australia and constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. They are native
to north eastern New South Wales and central and south eastern Queensland. The
tree is commercially important for its fruit, the macadamia nut. Macadamia species grow as small to large
evergreen trees 2–12 m (6.6–39.4 ft) tall. The German–Australian botanist
Ferdinand von Mueller gave the genus the name Macadamia in 1857 in honour of
the Australian chemist, medical teacher and politician John Macadam. The post is because of its involvement of jail sentence
of an Air executive ~the subsequent appeal and acquittal.

Former
Korean Air executive Heather Cho, Cho was jailed for a year in February. She
was convicted of violating plane safety after ordering a taxiing plane back to
the gate to offload a steward who had served the
nuts the wrong way. Cho, also known as Cho Hyun-ah, was a vice-president
of Korean Air. She is also the daughter of the company's chairman. On 5th December last year, Cho became angry while
onboard a Korean Air flight in New York after she
was served macadamia nuts which she did not ask for, and which were still in a
bag, not in a bowl.

She
confronted both the flight attendant who served her and chief steward Park Chang-jin
about the presentation, at one point jabbing Mr Park with a service manual. Cho
then ordered the plane, which was taxiing at JFK Airport, to return to the
terminal to offload Mr Park. The incident led to an outrage, she was later
arrested and had been in custody. In February she was convicted and sentenced
to one year in jail. The case attracted intense attention in South Korea,
reopening a national debate about the Korean business system, which is
dominated by family firms known as chaebols.
Some of the families running these businesses have been accused of
high-handedness and acting with impunity.

Upon appeal,
the Court recently ruled that she should serve a suspended sentence. It gave
Cho a reduced sentence of 10 months and suspended the prison term for two
years. She remains guilty of using violence against flight attendants. BBC's
Steve Evans in Seoul said Cho looked pale and visibly thinner when she left the
court, after changing out of her green prison overalls. She did not answer
questions from reporters and quickly left in a car.

One of the
judges on the appeal panel is quoted as saying that they had taken into
consideration that she was a first time offender. "It appears that she
will have to live under heavy criticism from society, and stigma," he
said.